[29] It is said that Galileo was cited to appear at Rome on this occasion; and the opinion is not without foundation.
[30] Discorso delle Comete. Printed in the Opere di Galileo, vol. vi., pp. 117-191.
[31] Printed in the Opere di Galileo, vol. vi., pp. 191-571.
[32] A fine painting in gold, and a silver medal, and “a good quantity of agnus dei.”
[33] Library of Useful Knowledge, Life of Galileo, chap. viii.
[34] The communication between Florence and Rome was at this time interrupted by a contagious disease which had broken out in Tuscany.
[35] It has been said, but upon what authority we cannot state, that when Galileo rose from his knees, he stamped on the ground, and said in a whisper to one of his friends, “E pur si muove.” “It does move, though.”—Life of Galileo, Lib. Useful Knowledge, part ii. p. 63.
[36] It is a curious fact that Morin had about this time proposed to determine the longitude by the moon’s distance from a fixed star, and that the commissioners assembled in Paris to examine it requested Galileo’s opinion of its value and practicability. Galileo’s opinion was highly unfavourable. He saw clearly, and explained distinctly, the objection to Morin’s method, arising from the imperfection of the lunar tables, and the inadequacy of astronomical instruments; but he seemed not to be conscious that the very same objections applied with even greater force to his own method, which has since been supplanted by that of the French savant. See Life of Galileo, Library of Useful Knowledge, p. 94.
[37] Regis Gallorum in Dania Legatus.
[38] This office had been usually conferred on the King’s Chancellor.